推动中西部农村中小学跨越式发展

The Introduction of Distance Education in Elementary and Middle Schools in Mid-Western China:A Means for Accelerated Development

The Ministry of Education has put forward the idea of popularizing informat ion technology(IT)education in China’s elementary and middle schools within5t o10years’ time.With this aim in mind,the Ministry is utilizing modern dis-t ance education as a means to deliver quality educational resources via various c hannels to elementary and middle schools in villages.Distance teacher training is also being practiced with a view to narrowing the gap between China’s east an d west.A balanced development in basic education is a sound policy option in p resent-day China.In the implementation of this distance education policy,thre e models can be followed.(1)Teaching disks can be broadcast in a number of s elected points for collective viewing.The equipment required includes a TV set ,a DVD player and a set of teaching disks.(2)The same can be done for sate llite teaching.The equipment includes a satellite TV system,and a computer an d other peripheral devices,in addition to the other equipment mentioned in(1 ).(3)Computerized classrooms equipped with satellite TV systems,teaching disk broadcast systems,computers and the Inter-net can be constructed.The dev elopment of quality software is the key to the implementation of this modern di stance education project.But two points have to be noted.On the one hand,th e latest curriculum reform and the teaching needs of village schools have to be taken into consideration.On the other,the educational resources and software f or different levels of conventional basic education have to be developed furthe r.In this way,the quality classroom practices of conventional schools can be t aped and broadcast in village schools.Last but not least,teachers should be m ade aware of the impor-tance of developing teaching resources and software by c onducting research into the different models of modern distance education.